Work on the Transportation Department’s plan is slated to begin in November 2013, when the state highway will be widened from four to six lanes from where Interstate 65 pours into Creola and north to Axis, according to agency spokeswoman Rebecca White.

Said Nelson, “It’s hard enough getting across two lanes. Gosh, in my opinion, you’re just compounding the problem by adding more lanes.”

The plan also calls for extending Jackson Road from its current end near the interstate to the Shell station on U.S. 43. At that new intersection, Nelson said, the Transportation Department will place a stop light.

Traffic grows with expansion

Nelson said that since ThyssenKrupp began building its steel plant in 2007, traffic in his city of about 2,000 people has grown exponentially. He has approached state transportation officials several times, urging changes to Creola’s roadways and intersections.

Transportation Department records show that daily traffic in Creola remained nearly steady from 2006 to 2009, hovering at about 19,000 vehicles each day.

But in 2010, when the steel plant officially opened, traffic jumped to nearly 23,000 vehicles per day in the southernmost portion of Creola, and to more than 24,000 per day just north of Radcliff Road.

What Creola really needs, Nelson said, are traffic lights to manage all those extra cars and trucks.

The Transportation Department’s plans include only one light at the new entrance to Jackson Road. As of now, other busy intersections, like the one at Radcliff Road or the current entrance of Jackson Road, aren’t slated for lights, Nelson said.

At a recent meeting, Transportation Department officials agreed to study the roadway again to see if additional lights were warranted, Nelson said.

“Lights help break up the traffic,” he said. “Could you imagine driving on Airport Boulevard with no lights? It’s like that here.”

U-Turn to get to Dollar General

To turn into the city’s popular Dollar General store, a motorist must make a U-turn, Nelson said. “If you put a light at Radcliff Road,” the mayor said, “that would help people get into the parking lot.”

Nelson on a recent afternoon pointed to a makeshift cross in the median that divides U.S. 43 by Jackson Road. He said that perhaps a light would have prevented at least one man’s death.

“One wreck is too many,” Nelson said. “And if this continues, we’re going to have a bad situation.”

He said, “I’ve been told that traffic lights cause accidents. But speeding causes accidents, too, and I feel like lights will help slow people down.”

Several attempts to reach Creola Police Chief Jerry Taylor to ascertain the number of wrecks on U.S. 43 each year were unsuccessful.

“People get out of work and they want to get home,” Nelson said. “They get antsy and they get reckless.”

He said, “This is probably one of the busiest state highways, and it will only get busier.”